Nov. 9, 2006 – The Launch Event

Note: The Participant’s Agreement, a required document, is attached to this email. Please complete and return to us ASAP!(DRUM ROLL PLEASE!)…… THE LAUNCH EVENT

It’s the moment you’ve all been waiting for: the official kickoff of this, the first ever Project Twenty1! This Saturday, November 11th, 7:00 pm EST, the Launch Event is scheduled to take place on the campus of our Event Sponsor, the Philadelphia University of the Arts.

We will be answering any questions you may have regarding the rules, the screenings, the awards, the judging, or the Project in general. We have just learned that a Project Twenty1 video crew will also be present, interviewing those Teams who will be in attendance, so bring your best spokespeople, and be sure let your excitement or tension or confidence pour through the lens!

Attendance, of course, is not mandatory, as some Teams are literally thousands of miles away! At 8:00pm EST, we will automatically email you at this address with a description of the Element and an explanation of how it can be used.

IMPORTANT – PARTICIPANT’S AGREEMENT!

Nobody likes it, but unfortunately, paperwork is always a necessity. Since we screen your films publicly, release them on a DVD compilation, and market them to other festivals on your behalf, we need your authorization to do so. Please download, sign, and submit the Participant’s Agreement (attached) on or before the Launch Event this Saturday. Rest assured, once the “Best of Project Twenty1” screening has passed in January, you may do whatever you want with your films! Until then, we require a small level of secrecy to ensure a fair voting process and attendance at the screenings.

The Participant’s Agreement is for everyone’s protection; upon completion of your films, we need time to build our DVD and hold our final screening in January before, for instance, any of your films get uploaded to Youtube or another public venue. If people can already view your film online, it can reduce the likelihood of them coming to vote for you at the screenings. Besides, as we intend to submit the “Best of Project Twenty1” films to other festivals on your behalf, we need to be assured they have not, for example, been aired on broadcast television before we even get a chance!

For those of you not attending the Launch, please print this form, sign it, and mail, email or fax it to us at the contact information listed at the bottom of this newsletter.

Please go over the Agreement ahead of time. We would rather spend the Launch Event getting to know our Teams, discussing your films, and explaining the Element, rather than getting bogged down in the drudgery of formal documents.

If you don’t hand us a signed Participant’s Agreement prior to the start of filmmaking will be disqualified from judging, and your film will NOT be screened! This is not to be punitive; it is simply because we require your certified permission to screen your film. This form, as well as the others that are due at the Drop Event, are also available on the Forms page of our website.

WEBSITE NEWS – OFFICIAL TEAMS

The Team and Leader names you have provided us with are currently posted on our website. Check out the list: these will be your compatriots in filmmaking (and your competition!) over the next three weeks.

Because a huge part of our mission is building prestige for our Teams, we are assembling a “Teams” section of the website where we will be showcasing YOU! This will be a place where the public can come to learn more about our Teams and follow your progress over the next month.

However, as we don’t know much about you (yet), we need your help to build this portion of the site! Read on…

TELL US ABOUT YOURSELVES!

Here’s what we’d like from each Team to promote your efforts on our website:

One picture from your Team. It can be a headshot of your Team leader, your company’s logo, a shot of your entire Team, whatever! Just email us a picture, or hand us one at the Launch Event, and we will use it to show you off on the site!

A 150-word description (approximately) of your Team. Where you’re from, what type of films you like to make, why you entered, your filmmaking background, how you met, etc!

A URL to your website, blog, MySpace page, or any link where you can give the public more information about your company and, if you wish, the progress on your Project Twenty1 film.

This is not just about The Project – it’s about the experience. And the world wants to hear all about it! Our web traffic is growing steadily with each month, and we want to route some of that to you, our Teams, as we introduce you to the world, and vice versa.

LAUNCH LOCATION, TIME & REQUIREMENTS

Those of you unable to attend, we require the following from you before the Launch time of 7:00pm, Saturday:

A signed copy of the Participant’s Agreement, via mail, email or fax.

Any of the above promotional website information you wish to provide us with! (not required before Saturday, but in your best interests… you won’t have much time to worry about it AFTER Saturday now, will you?)

We will be emailing all Teams at 8:00pm on Saturday with the “Element” and a brief description to allow you to get started!

Those of you showing up in person, the Launch information is as follows:

Any of the above promotional website information you wish to provide us with! (not required before Saturday, but in your best interests… you won’t have much time to worry about it AFTER Saturday now, will you?)

We will describe the Element in person, and provide a written description to take home. The same information will be emailed to all of the Teams at 8:00pm Saturday night. Please forward the message to all your Team Members, actors, composers, etc.

GOOD LUCK!!!

Please contact us with any information you wish to share about your Team, any questions you might have, and above all, particularly for those of you NOT attending the Launch Event, the Participant’s Agreement, signed, and submitted, before Saturday night!

We can’t wait to meet some of you on Saturday, and we’re very excited about the overall level of skill, quality, enthusiasm and professionalism we’ve detected in each and every one of you so far. It makes us extremely excited about our Project, because really, a competition is only as good as its competitors. And it’s looking like our competition is going to be top notch!